I'm absolutely dumbfounded. I don't think there will be another director like Del Toro for us. I, like so many others, was amazed at how humble he was with us here at TheOneRing forums and I'm just crushed. I feel grateful, however to have had him with us for what short a time it was. You will be missed, mate. Good luck with ALL your future endeavors.

Below is a copy and paste of the email I sent to MGM upon reading this news this morning. Thanks to Shadow and Flame for the link! I encourage ALL here on the forums to flood this email account IMMEDIATELY! We need to be heard!

Dear Sirs, The recent news of Mr. Del Toro leaving the Hobbit project has left me absolutely sick. He will be terribly missed and the world will have to miss out on what could've been a truly wonderful set of films. I'm absolutely disgusted with the apparent greed that has shown itself here. I speak for myself, but I know that there are literally LEGIONS of Tolkien fans out there that are of like mind and are equally upset about this unfortunate turn of events. How shameful! This represents a failure to acknowledge the value of the creative side of the business. I realize that MGM is in massive debt, but didn't WB offer a good enough deal for you people? The Hobbit films stand to make a killing at the box office (if they ever get made, that is), so why have the films not been given a greenlight already? Seriously, what is the hold-up? Websites like TheOneRing.net are literally locked up with internet traffic because of this news. There are millions of fans out there that have been waiting (very patiently, I might add) for SOMETHING to happen. Please, if you have ANY love for the art and the films that you make (and not just the money that you make), PLEASE consider ALL of the options you have on the table for these films. You are sitting on a gold mine here. We all know that the James Bond franchise has been put on hold indefinitely, so The Hobbit film project is all you have now. Please, don't screw up the one trump card you have left.PLAY LOTRO!!! Find me, Ermanatar Silverleaf of Dale on the Silverlode server!!!